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Pope Benedict XVI Resigns
I figured I would add this as a side page. In case you have not heard, Pope Benedict XVI resigned today. He has been the first pope to resign since 1415. In 1415 Pope Gregory XII resigned. I also find the electing of a new pope a very interesting event. So I will detail that below. Exciting! Soo even though I am not Catholic I love the process! When Pope John Paul II died, I watched every minute of this process on the news (I was also in High School and had the time to sit around and watch it, I don't have that time now).' However, if the cardinals are efficient a new Pope could be selected while we are in Rome!' How to elect a new Pope So now that Pope Benedict XVI has resigned the Vatican will order a conclave of the cardinals. This conclave must begin 15-20 days after the Pope's officail resignation, which is February 28th. Any cardinal eligible to vote (those under 80) will be summoned to the Vatican and will take an Oath of Secrecy. It also interesting to note that any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible to be Pope, however, only cardinals have been chosen since 1378. At this point ballots will be held each morning and evening at the Sistine Chapel. Two ballots in the morning and two ballots in the evening. There must be a 2/3 majority. After each vote the ballots are burned. Black smoke means there is no decision. White smoke means that a decision has been made and that person has accepted. And bam, new Pope! The selection of a new Pope Here are a few of the people who are being considered "top runners" to be elected the next Pope. Cardinal Angelo Scola (Italy) To the right is a picture of Cardinal Angelo Scola. He is 71 years old and is considered the number one Italian pick. He has been a cardinal since 2003 and was appointed Archbishop of Milan in 2011. He is considered to be a conservative and has been close to both John Paul II and Pope Benedict. Cardinal Marc Ouellet (Canada) Cardinal Ouellet is 68 years old. He is from Canada and has headed the Congregation for Bishops since 2010. He is a former editor of Communio, an internation journal co-founded by Joseph Ratzinger, his thinking is considered to be very close to that of Pope Benedict. He has also has close ties with the Latin American Church. He was named Archbishop of Quebec in 2002 and appointed cardinal in 2005. Odilo Scherer (Brazil) Cardinal Odilo Scherer is 63 years old and is considered the number one pick among Latin American candidates. He is head of the largest diocese in the world's largest Catholic country, Brazil. He obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Leonardo Sandri (Argentina) Cardinal Sandri is 63 years old and was born in Buenos Aires in Argentina. Both of his parents were Italian. He became a papal diplomat after ordination and served as apostolic nuncio to Venezuela and Mexico. Between 2000 and 2007 he was third-in-command at the Vatican, serving as Chieft of Staff. He now heads the Vatican department for Eastern Churches. Peter Turkson (Ghana) Cardinal Peter Turkson is 64 years old and is the general secretary of the Synod for Africa. This puts him in place to be the a strong candidate to become the first African pope of the modern age. It is interesting to note that the last two popes also served in this position. He is also the head of Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace. He is seen as a moderate. He is considered a signal for openness. One of his arguments is that condoms might be appropriate for couples were one partner is HIV-positive and the other is not. Timothy Dolan (United States) Cardinal Timothy Dolan is 62 years old. He is currently the archbishop of the New York archdiocese. He has also headed the Milwaukee diocese. He has a PhD in Church History and spent time in Rome as both a student and as a rector of the North American College. He has also led the US conference of Catholic bishops. It is also intersting to note that the fact he is American may stand in the way. Cardinals are seen as relectant to promote from a perceived super power state. Luis Tagle (Philippines) Cardinal Luis Tagle is 55 and is one of the youngest candidates considered. He is archbishop of the Philippines' capital, Manila. Which is a 2.8 million-strong archdiocese. He was only made cardinal a few months ago, Novemeber 2012. He is considered a man of the people. It was once said that he rode a cheap bicycle to a run-down neighbourhood in Manila to deputise for a sick colleague. He is also known for inviting beggars that stand outside his cathedral to share a meal with him. He is also known to be media friendly and social media friendly. He has a strong presence on Facebook and is a frequent on TV in Philippines. Joao Braz de Aviz (Brazil) Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz is 65 years old. He has taking over as prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in 2011. He was born in Mafra, Stana Catarina and completed his theological studies at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian and Pontifical Lateeran Universities. As a young priest in Brazil he was caught in the cross-fire of an armed robbery. He was shot several times and bullets perforated his lungs, intestines and an eye. Some bullet fragments are still lodged in his body. He was made bishop in 1994 and appointed archbishop of Brasilia in 2004 and in May 2010 he was organizor of the XVI National Eucharistic Congress to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the city. Last cardinal arrives at Vatican Below is a BBC article detailing how the last cardinal of the 115 cardinals to vote as on a new pope as arrived at the vatican. It was Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man. They are now all together and will choose a date very soon to start the conclave. Here is BBC link to the article detailing this. BBC: Last Cardinal arrives at Vatican To the side is a picture of the last arriving cardinal. (I keep updating this page but forgetting to log in. That is starting to get annoying, it says i'm logged in but when I make an update logs me out). Conclave likely to start next week! According to Fox News that vatican has reported that we should have a decision this afternoon (March 8th 2013) around 1pm eastern time on when the conclave should start! I will be updating with more information as I get it. Here is a link to the foxnews story Fox News Article Conclave to start Tuesday!! The Vatican has announced that the conclave to elect the new pope will begin on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. There has been talk about how this might take a while because there is a divide in the cardinals. Either way it should be interesting to watch. Cardinals from indonesia and Scotland have excused themselves from the conclave and will not be voting. Cardinals fail to elect pope in first vote Of course this should come as no surprise that the 115 cardinals electors did not come to an agreement on the first vote! but none the less black smoke did appear as the first vote came to a close. Here is a bbc article covering it! It also includes a video on it discussing how the dark the smoke is. During the last election a lot of people found it very confusing on the smoke because some of the black smoke was very light and almost looked white. Apprantly they have addressed this issue because as you can tell from the video the smoke is very, very dark.BBC Day two of Cardinal delibrations beings! Day two of the voting has begun! There has been a large turn out of crowds at St. Peter's Square and they have been braving the rain to wait to see the black or white smoke! There is reports that there is no clear front runner to replace Pope Benedict XVI. Now they have started the eat, vote and sleep only until a pope is chosen. And also there has been Jamming devices placed in the Sistine Chapel that will block all electronic communication. Anyone found trying to tweet or facebook anything during conclave could risk excommunication! Here is a link to an interactive BBC video on "Conclave to elect new pope". It is a very interesting video! bbc interactive (I updated all this but again got signed out! that is very agrivating but I will continue to update this page as I get information before we leave----Justin) What will Benedict XVI do in retirement? There is an interesting BBC article about the pope retirement. I figure I would include it in case anyone else wanted to see it! BBC: Benedict XVI: 10 things about the Pope's Retirement WE HAVE A NEW POPE!!!! I will update as we get new information! Pope Francis I I am sad to say that this Cardinal wasn't even on my watch list! And i'm not sure why!! But here is a short profile of Cardinal Bergoglio, the newly elected Pope Francis I. It was exciting news! I am glad it happened (i wish more it would have happened while we were there though! I will be including Pope Francis is part of my research paper. Therefore, I found it necessary for me to come back and update this page. Here is a link to a LIVE BBC news feed and video : BBC LIVE FEED BBC Article Fox News Article CNN News Article Thank you to whoever posted the picture below. It made me laugh.